Darkest Drabbles
by general zargon
Summary: Just something I decided to post in order to clear out some plot bunnies. These are pretty much just drabbles that I might or might not expand later. If any are connected, I'll be sure to tell you! Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hey all! This is my first time writing a Lords of the Underworld (by Gena Showalter) fic, so please go easy on me! I hope you all enjoy the story, so please feel free to read on!_

**Darkest Laughter**

_01_

When Kane walked into the entertainment-room, he had to stop in the doorway and stare, unsure if he was seeing things or not. Since he hadn't yet been hit over the head hard enough that day to cause hallucinations, he was forced to conclude that he wasn't seeing things, and Ashlyn, mate to Maddox the keeper of Violence, really was constructing some sort of structure made entirely out of pillows around the T.V.

The keeper of Disaster blinked and was just about to look around to make sure the others weren't waiting to burst out laughing at his reaction when Ashlyn looked up and spotted him standing in the doorway like an idiot. She smiled, a reaction he _really_ wasn't used to getting, and motioned him further into the room as she said, "Oh, hello! Your name is Kane, right? I think we were introduced a few days ago."

The Greece contingent of Lords had moved into the fortress after Maddox's death-curse had been broken, and since Ashlyn and the keeper of Violence had been locked in their bedroom for the majority of that time, only a cursory introduction had gone on between the just-arrived Lords and the woman of the fortress.

Kane nodded, remembering belatedly that Ashlyn had kind-of asked him a question, and he took a moment to look around the room in complete confusion before he asked, more than a little lost, "Um, what exactly are you doing?" As an afterthought, he took a few steps into the entertainment-room, hesitant to go in any further lest he mess up whatever it was that the brunette woman was trying to accomplish.

Ashlyn blinked; momentarily confused by the question, but then she realized that she was still holding a small throw pillow in her hands, having been in the process of using it as a corner point for her pillow construction work when Kane had walked in.

She looked over at the tall Lord standing just a bit inside the room and asked him curiously, as she straightened up from the crouch she had been in, "You've never made a pillow fort before?"

That just made the keeper of Disaster even more confused, and he ignored the light bulb that exploded in a nearby lamp with the ease of long practice as he queried, "I don't understand, why make a fort out of pillows? I doubt that it would be able to keep anything out…"

Ashlyn giggled slightly at the confused look on Kane's face and motioned with the hand not holding the throw pillow to come closer, privately thinking that Kane looked adorable when he was confused, like a cute puppy trying to figure something out. She turned back and began arranging the pillows that made up the corner she had been working on to include the throw pillow as she began explaining, "It's not _really_ supposed to keep anything out. A pillow fort is usually something that kids make for fun, like a tree-house, except it's usually inside the house and made of pillows." Aware that she wasn't explaining things very well, she again motioned the keeper of Disaster to come closer as she added, "Come on, it would be better to show you, since I'm not really good at explaining things like this."

Kane hesitated before gingerly moving over to Ashlyn, keeping a wary eye on the TV and keeping his body tensed in case he had to pull the blonde away from an exploding television or something along those lines. It wouldn't have been the first time that something like that had happened around him, he thought sourly as he came to stand beside Ashlyn, looking at what she was doing and still feeling as confused as he had when he had first walked into the room.

Following Maddox's wife's directions, Kane soon became focused on helping Ashlyn to construct her pillow fort, his hazel eyes narrowed as he thought up ways to make the fort even better, and soon both Kane and Ashlyn were acting like children and raiding the other Lords' rooms (except for Torin's of course) for more pillows - aka building materials - while the others were out. Surprisingly, Disaster was quiet during the construction except for when a pillow burst and covered both of them with feathers, which was good for a laugh as Ashlyn pointed out that they now looked like big chickens.

Before Kane knew it over two hours had passed, and the fort was complete.

Ashlyn and Kane stepped back and admired their creation, which took up practically the whole entertainment-room and looked far sturdier than anything made out of pillows really had any right to.

The keeper of Disaster had somehow managed to make it so that the fort actually looked like a fort and not like an overly-large igloo, and a pair of pillow pillars framed the entrance, which was concealed by a cleverly placed sheet. The sheet was anchored above the hole in the fort that served as the door by virtue of being sandwiched between layers of pillows, and it was spread so that it covered the entire door like a white curtain.

Instead of building a back wall for the pillow fort, Ashlyn had decided to just pad the wall around the TV with throw pillows and save the regular pillows for the building of the fort itself.

The inside of the fort was the definition of cozy, with pillows covering the floor around the coffee table (and under it, too) and couches had been turned into impromptu tables to hold bags of chips and 2-liter bottles of a variety of soda. There were three stacks of DVDs perched on a pillow right next to the TV, and there was a deck of cards sitting in the middle of the coffee table.

All in all, Kane had to say that they had done a pretty good job, and better yet nothing had gone wrong with the exception of the one exploding pillow. He absently pulled a feather from his hair as he and Ashlyn shared a satisfied smile.

Ashlyn clapped her hands sharply and beamed as she told Kane, "Let's go inside and try it out! I think there's a movie marathon on the Sci-Fi channel that we'll be able to catch if we hurry and get things set up."

"What kind of movies?" Kane queried as he stooped over to enter the pillow fort behind Maddox's woman.

Ashlyn could only shrug and answer, "I don't know…do you want to find out?"

The keeper of Disaster's only reply was a wide grin as he grabbed a bag of potato chips and a bottle of Coke from the pile of snacks on one of the sofas.

Four hours later, and Maddox, Paris, Amun, and Sabin were forced to stop just inside the door to the entertainment-room and stare, dumbfounded at the sight of the structure made entirely out of pillows that had appeared in the room.

In unison, they all blinked before Maddox cautiously took a step towards the pillow fort, and just then sheet covering the door was pushed to the side and Ashlyn poked her head out. The brunette beamed when she saw Maddox, and she happily motioned him to come inside the pillow fort as she spoke, "Maddox! Come on in, Kane and I were just about to watch '_An American Werewolf in London_'!" She paused when she saw Paris, Amun, and Sabin and then added sternly, "But you three have to say the password! Only Maddox gets a free pass into the pillow fort." With that, Ashlyn ducked back inside the fort, and Maddox shrugged at the others before he followed after her.

Outside the pillow fort, the stunned Lords blinked before they looked at each other, and Paris finally snapped out of his shock as he looked at the others and asked in confusion, "So…do any of you guys know the password?"


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Apologies to everyone still waiting for me to update my other fics, but I just had to write this! The plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone! T_T Feel free to read on._

**Darkest Fears**

_02_

The first time that Ashlyn Darrow met the keeper of Fear was a complete accident.

Or at least that was what she would later tell her dumbfounded husband and the incredulous Lords of the Underworld.

She had just been taking a walk, more like a waddle really, since her belly was so swollen with her pregnancy that anything more would just be uncomfortable, through the town and minding her own business while idly listening for anything that might concern the Lords. She honestly hadn't meant for anything to happen, though she guessed she should have known that _something_ would happen, considering that her track record for incident-free walks was worse than Disaster's travel safety record.

Ashlyn hadn't told any of the Lords that she was leaving the fortress and going into Budapest, though she wouldn't have been surprised to know that Torin had seen her leave and told the others a few minutes later. The keeper of Disease practically ran the entire world from the computer system he had in his room, and since he couldn't leave the fortress without the risk of starting a plague, he had a lot of time to monitor things.

Her feet had started to hurt an hour into her walk, and so she had detoured to a nearby park just as the streetlights had begun to flicker on. It had taken her a lot longer than she had thought to walk as far as she had, though it had definitely helped the restlessness she had been feeling, and so she had sank gratefully down onto a wooden bench.

Now, she sighed in relief at taking her weight off of her swollen feet, and she had to think wistfully of Maddox and how he massaged her feet every time she complained that they were hurting. God, that man was _very_ good with his hands.

'_I'm going to have to head back soon before everyone gets worried,_' she thought, and she had to groan softly at the thought of standing up so soon after starting to rest her feet. She looked around, distantly listening to the voices whisper sweet nothings to each other, and upon seeing no one around decided that it wouldn't hurt to rest for a few more minutes.

A few more minutes turned into half an hour before Ashlyn could bring herself to move from the bench, having become engrossed in looking around and admiring the beauty of the quiet park. At night, the park seemed calm and serene, with only the quiet buzzing of insects colliding with the glowing lamps to disturb the peace.

Ashlyn blinked, breaking free of the quiet-induced trance, and covered a small yawn behind her hand as she prepared to push herself to her feet and start back towards the fortress. She idly wondered if Lucien would meet her halfway, because she just knew that her feet were going to hate her in the morning for the abuse that she was putting them through.

Just as she was about to stand though, she felt a tingle of apprehension shoot down her spine, and she quickly froze in place. She slowly returned her hands, which had been braced on the back of the bench in preparation for standing up, back to her lap, and she carefully began to look around, trying to figure out what had caused that odd shiver of fear. That's if it hadn't just been her imagination, she mused to herself, and then shook her head wryly. Since when had that actually turned out to be true?

The brunette was just thinking of getting her cell phone out when she froze again, feeling more shivers of fear even stronger than the first one run down her spine, chilling her to the bone as she looked around even more carefully. Her honey-colored eyes were wide as she looked carefully at every shadow around her, craning her neck to see behind her even as she wondered when Maddox would get worried about her and come looking. It wouldn't be very long now, she reassured herself, and some of her fear dissipated at the thought of the love of her life.

She conjured an image of Maddox's face in her mind to quiet the voices, and took several deep breaths, telling herself that getting worked up wouldn't solve anything and might even hurt the babies, which was the absolute last thing she wanted to do. Her racing heart calmed, and she was able to look around more calmly, examining every shadow for any tell-tale movement.

The shadow of fear still lingered, along with the chills running up and down her back, and she shuddered as gooseflesh rose along her arms.

'_What is going on?_' she wondered to herself as she once again began reaching for her cell phone, because enough was enough already. Her hand had just closed on cool, reassuring plastic when the sound of bushes rustling reached her ears, and her eyes zeroed in on the foliage across from her – or more importantly, they locked onto the dark shape emerging from the bushes.

Ashlyn tensed, quickly taking in the size and width of the form, noting that it was definitely a man's form, and then the dark form stepped out into the lightened area around the lamp posts. What was revealed shocked her, and she couldn't stop herself from gaping in astonishment.

The man that stumbled as he shakily approached her was…_dark_. That was really the only word that seemed to fit him.

Long black hair fell in tangles down to his hips, his bangs falling in a dark curtain in front of his eyes, and it almost seemed as though the light from the lamps was afraid to approach the dark strands. He was tall, over six feet if she had to guess, and excruciatingly thin. She could almost make out the outline of some of his ribs through his threadbare, oversized t-shirt. The man was barefoot, and in addition to the t-shirt that exposed his thin, pale arms he wore only a pair of washed out jeans that were torn at the knees.

However, despite the sorry condition of his clothing and the layers of grime that even in the poor light she could see covered the man from head to toe, Ashlyn could clearly make out the defined muscles that moved beneath his skin that betrayed the fact that he was likely a lot stronger than he looked.

The man took another step, stumbling again as he did so, and Ashlyn snapped out of her state of shock enough to realize that a strange man who looked more than a little starving approaching a woman sitting alone on a park bench was probably not a good thing. She felt a sharp jolt of fear in her chest, not for herself but for her children, and for Maddox should something happen to her and the babies.

That settled it for her, and she didn't hesitate to quickly pull out her cell phone, scrolling through the names she had on speed dial and settling on Lucien's, figuring that getting someone there fast was more important than calling Maddox. And the keeper of Death could definitely be there fast, considering that he could flash himself anywhere he wanted with only a thought.

A pale, dirty hand lashed out and seized her wrist in an iron grip, the long and slender fingers tightening until she dropped her phone, but thankfully not getting any tighter when she gasped in slight pain. Another stab of fear hit her, and she slowly looked up at the owner of the hand holding her wrist in an unbreakable grip, finally getting a look at the man's face.

If she hadn't been so terrified, she would have thought the dark man was pretty handsome underneath all the dirt and grime. High cheekbones, full lips, and an aristocratic nose combined with black-as-night eyebrows and eyes so dark that it was almost impossible to distinguish the iris from the pupil formed a face so handsome that Ashlyn had to take a moment to shake the thought that he was almost more attractive than Paris, the keeper of Promiscuity.

'_Focus, Darrow!_' Ashlyn thought, tugging lightly at her trapped hand, testing to see if the man's grip was any looser. Sadly, all she accomplished was drawing the man's attention to her and causing him to tighten his grip to ensure that she couldn't pull free.

She gulped, trying to beat down the fear that attempted to claw its' way up from her stomach to surround her heart, and she prayed that whatever the man wanted, he wouldn't decide to kill her. Of course, if the man was a Hunter, being killed was probably the best thing that he could do to her, especially if he knew that Maddox was the father of her children. Then again, he probably would have done something already if he was a Hunter. Suspicious, she shot a quick glance at the man's wrists, confirming that there was no infinity tattoo beneath the layers of dirt, and that did absolutely nothing to make her feel better.

Several tense moments passed, and Ashlyn peered cautiously up at the dark man, wondering what he was thinking, since he hadn't moved aside from grabbing her wrist to keep her from using her cell phone. She swallowed nervously, mentally telling herself to calm down, and she practically squeaked out, "Uh, sir? What do you want?"

The silence was shattered, though for a minute everything seemed so still that you could hear a pin drop before the dark man did something that she never would have expected: he shrugged.

Ashlyn gaped at the motion, and her honey-colored eyes were wide in puzzlement as she tried to figure out what that gesture could mean, especially since he was still holding on to her wrist. Her thoughts were running around in circles, and she swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry mouth, once more fearing for both herself and her unborn children.

Dark eyes narrowing, the man tilted his head, apparently reading the expression that flashed across her face before she managed to get herself under control. Strands of tangled hair fell idly over one shoulder as he looked at her, his face expressionless as he stared at her, and why did she suddenly feel like he could see right through her? A shudder racked her body, but she staunchly told herself to stay calm and that everything would be alright.

Suddenly, the man smiled, and his eyes brightened in a way that seemed distinctly amused.

She narrowed her own eyes, frowning at the thought that the man was amused by her fear, and she glanced down at her free hand, wondering if she could use it to reach her cell phone and press the call button before the man could stop her. Almost as if he'd read her mind, the man's other hand lashed out and grabbed onto her free hand, thereby stopping her plan before it had even begun.

They stayed like that, her seated on the bench with both of her wrists held before her in an unbreakable grip, and he slightly bent over so he could look into her eyes while he restrained her arms, a somewhat amused light in his eyes. The frozen taboo continued for minutes that seemed to stretch into eternity, Ashlyn's eyes locked with the man's black, fathomless gaze.

Ashlyn shifted slightly and winced when a pins-and-needles sensation started in her feet, signaling that they had definitely fallen asleep, and the loss of feeling in her hands said that her other appendages weren't far behind.

The dark man caught her wince and shift, and his eyes narrowed speculatively before he abruptly released his hold on Ashlyn's wrists.

Caught off-guard, it took her a moment to process that she was now free, and as she slowly lowered her arms and began to rub her wrists to encourage the blood to flow back into the appendages she kept a wary eye on the man. She knew not to try and reach for her cell phone again, because she knew without a doubt that the man was a lot quicker than she was. She shifted her legs to wake her feet back up, and she found it more than a little disconcerting that the man wasn't moving a muscle though being bent over in that position had to be uncomfortable. Disconcerting and a tiny bit frightening, she admitted to herself.

The man's lips quirked up; and Ashlyn had to breathe deeply in order to stem the sudden tide of fear that tried to overwhelm her. '_What if he's just playing with you? What if he's planning to kill you?_' She knew what her death, along with the deaths of her unborn children, would do to Maddox, and the thoughts of that terrified her more than anything.

The last thing she wanted to do was cause Maddox pain.

Inexplicably, the fear left her, and all she felt was confusion, both at why the dark man was standing there and why she was suddenly unafraid.

A soft chuckle emerged from the man still in front of her, and her eyes, which had been unfocused as she thought, snapped back up to his face. Seeing the slight smile on that attractive, grime covered face along with the amusement in his dark eyes caused her to scowl and raise her chin primly in a way that communicated that she was Not Amused. Which only caused the man to snicker, but at least he wasn't trying to terrify or kill her, so she figured she could let some amusement at her expense slide. Not much she could do about it anyway, but she chose not to think about that.

Abruptly, a strange thought occurred to her, but it actually made sense in a sort of odd way.

She took a deep breath and asked the looming man hesitantly, still shifting her feet to keep them from falling asleep again, "You…wouldn't happen to be a demon-keeper…would you?"

The wider smile that spread across his face told Ashlyn that she had hit the nail on the head, and she frowned at the amusement that was still present in those black eyes. Surely scaring her half to death hadn't been _that_ funny.

He nodded as if he'd heard her thought, and without a word he twisted and slid down to sit next to her on the bench. She figured that meant she would have to guess which demon he had, but considering the events leading up to her question, she considered Fear a pretty safe bet.

Glancing at him, she said dryly, "Let me guess, your demon is Fear or something along those lines." It was a statement more than a question, but the man nodded anyway, a slight grin still on his face along with twinkles of amusement in his eyes. She still frowned, more than a little put out that a random demon-keeper had decided to get a laugh out of making her think she and her children were going to be killed.

Ashlyn jumped slightly when the man suddenly turned to face her while still sitting, drawing one leg up onto the bench beside him and keeping the other planted on the ground. She blinked, starting to get nervous again, but she stayed where she was aside from folding her hands on top of her distended belly and tapping her left foot twice when it started to go numb.

She shuddered slightly, feeling the chill in the air as it grew darker and closer to midnight. Honestly, she had no idea what time it was, but she was sure that Maddox must be starting to wonder where she was.

The man tilted his head, the expression of confusion flashing across his face compelling her to explain, even though his staring was pretty unnerving, "It's getting cold out, and I've been out here for awhile," Ashlyn smiled, since it was never a good idea to get on the bad side of a demon-keeper, and for lack of anything better to do and just to break the uneasy silence, she introduced herself, "My name is Ashlyn. Ashlyn Darrow. What's your name?"

Again, his only reply was a shrug, and she was beginning to wonder if the keeper of Fear (or something along those lines) was simply unable to talk.

She jumped in surprise when the man's dirt-covered hand - with slightly longer than average nails, she noted - tentatively reached out and touched her belly, and she couldn't miss the curious look in his eyes, along with the quick flash of longing. She smiled softly, her mother's instinct now telling her that the dark man wasn't a danger to her, and she told him quietly but proudly, "Olivia, the angel who lives in the fortress with us, says I'm having twins, a boy and a girl. You could have knocked Maddox, my husband, over with a feather when I told him, or so Strider says, but I'm not sure if I believe him or not…"

The keeper of Fear tilted his head as he listened to the story, and if he thought she was lying he gave no indication. Just then, one of the babies kicked against the man's palm, and Ashlyn had to giggle at the wondering look on his pale, dirty face. The man started moving his palm around the surface of her belly, and she had to giggle again when the kicks seemed to follow his hand.

"I swear, they take after their father when it comes to how hard they kick," she had to comment, and was rewarded with a slight grin from the man before he focused again on her belly and the babies moving around within. More at ease now that she knew he wasn't a threat, she relaxed against the back of the bench and began to idly talk, not about anything in particular, and the night air was soon filled with comfortable chatter.

Almost fifteen minutes passed before Ashlyn's cell phone, forgotten on the bench beside her, began to ring, the screen flashing caller ID to let her know that Torin was trying to call her.

Ashlyn would later swear up and down that she most certainly did _not_ squeak at the sudden noise, but she did stop talking about the latest cake recipe that Torin had wanted her to try in order to pick up the phone, only half aware of the man's interested gaze on the phone in her hand.

She flipped open the phone, pausing when she saw the time display – _12:28_, really? It felt like a lot longer to her – but then she pressed the answer button on the fifth ring.

"_Where have you been?_" Torin's smooth voice demanded, and Ashlyn felt more than a little guilty when she heard the worry in his tone.

She cleared her throat and guiltily responded, "I'm alright, Torin. I'm sorry if I worried you, but I lost track of time, honest!"

"_Lucien is coming to pick you up, mostly to prevent Maddox from going crazy while trying to find you._" A statement, not a suggestion, and that told her everything about how frantic her husband was.

Really, all she could say was, "I'm sitting on a park bench, and I'm so sorry I worried all of you. Please tell Maddox not to hurt himself and I'll be home soon."

Torin hung up at the same time she did, and she sighed just as her back began complaining loudly at how uncomfortable the back of a wooden bench was after a long period of time. She groaned, looking forward to convincing Maddox to give her a backrub, but then she remembered the demon-keeper sitting next to her, and she looked over to find him staring at her intently. Though she noted that he was still feeling the babies' kicks against her belly and his hand, and that reminded her so much of Maddox that she had to press a hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter.

The dark man straightened up until he was sitting normally beside her, pulling his hand away from her shirt-covered belly with barely perceivable reluctance. The silence between them was rather awkward now, Torin's phone call having shattered the peaceful atmosphere, but Ashlyn figured that she had at least a few minutes before Lucien found her, and she felt the need to say _something_.

Suddenly it came to her, and she spoke up with a grin, "Vincent," drawing an odd look from the man beside her, and she explained gently, "Well, since you either don't know or you won't tell me your name, I've decided to give you one. I rather like Vincent, don't you?"

Her reward was the man actually doubling over in laughter, his pale arms crossed over his abdomen lightly, and the newly dubbed 'Vincent' smiled as he settled down next to her to wait for the keeper of Death to arrive.

Of course, it took some convincing to get Lucien to agree to bring the keeper of Fear back to the fortress, but that's another story entirely.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to chasingseraphim, who has been waiting patiently for this to be finished. Thanks for being so patient! I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

><p><strong>Darkest Fixation<strong>

_03_

* * *

><p>Being host to the demon of Obsession seriously sucked, Cameron thought morosely.<p>

It meant he was a creature of habit; he had to follow his routine no matter what. He had to do certain things at certain times, like doing push-ups at twilight, with no exceptions. He had to drop whatever he was doing at the time in order to follow his habits, which was a serious pain in the ass, especially when he was doing something else. It was also dangerous, since if anyone ever learned his habits they would be able to kill him with little effort if they timed their attack _just right_.

Also, he got obsessed over some of the stupidest things if he wasn't careful. Like his new and unfortunate need to watch every new episode of _ThunderCats_ that came on Cartoon Network…

Cameron let out a slight growl as a muscle in his cheek twitched at the thought of that cursed cartoon.

At the moment, however, he was obsessed with something a lot worse than a stupid animated show. No, this obsession had the potential to get him killed in an incredibly gruesome way, but that did nothing to deter his demon. Oh no, the bastard was actually _giggling_ with eagerness to follow through with his latest fixation:

The Lords of the Underworld, a group of immortal warriors who had once served as Zeus's bodyguards against his enemies and family members alike until they had unleashed the demons of Pandora's Box and each of them had wound up cursed to contain a demon inside each of them. Unfortunately, there had been more demons than naughty warriors, and so he and some other prisoners of Tartarus had gotten stuck with demons of their own, including the former Titan King Cronus and his bitch wife Rhea.

Obsession had latched onto his need to know about them with a fervor, making him obsessed with ferreting out every single scrap of information about them that he could, especially since the new ruler of the Titans, a woman possessed by the demon of Wrath, had seen fit to warn him and the others about what would happen if they tried anything against the warriors.

So now, a solid week after he'd bolted from that damn bedroom the second the barrier had come down, he was grinding his teeth as he flashed into the castle where he'd been held prisoner, darting out of the bedroom (the only room he was familiar enough with to safely teleport into) as soon as he materialized.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the hall without being impeded by any barrier, physical or otherwise, and he looked around warily, casting his senses around to see if any of the Lords were around. Sensing nothing in his immediate area, he relaxed his tensed stance minutely, and then set off at a brisk jog in a random direction, eager to get away from those damn bedrooms.

Cameron was sure to memorize his route, just so that he would somewhere else to flash to if he had to leave and then come back to the castle. He curled his lip at the multitude of paintings of Viola, the (minor) goddess of the Afterlife, and a Grade-A bitch who only got worse after getting stuck with the demon of Narcissism. He didn't recognize the woman in the other pictures (though she _did_ look faintly familiar…) but he had the strangest feeling that the two women were at war with each other, at least as far as decorating was concerned.

He noticed several security cameras, which were very much out of place in the medieval design of the castle and he had to wonder how the Lords had rigged it so that the castle had electricity. He supposed that if nothing else the demon-possessed warriors were resourceful.

Disregarding the cameras for the moment, he resumed exploring the fortress and memorizing the various corridors and rooms, most of which were empty and clearly hadn't been used for a long time. He promptly ignored the presence of the dungeon and pointedly did _not_ go down there.

The keeper of Obsession spent around three hours exploring; only interrupted by his habitual push-ups, which he went through as quickly as the demonic bastard sharing his body would allow.

Once his exercise was done, he jumped to his feet and, ignoring the sweat causing his shirt to cling to his chest, resumed his exploration. Though he hated the castle on principle, he had to admit that the Lords had actually cleaned up the place pretty well all things considered.

Cameron tensed when he felt someone approaching, and since he had no intention of meeting a Lord face-to-face, at least at the moment, he flashed into an empty bedroom that he had finished exploring a few hours before to get away from whoever-it-was. He was unconsciously breathing hard, shaken slightly by the close call, but he shook his head, bronze hair flowing with the movement, and told himself that he had just been picking the right moment to introduce himself and that he hadn't been running away.

He rolled his shoulders, popping his neck and relieving some of he tension he was feeling, and paced from one end of the bedroom to the other, taking note that the bathroom seemed to be in working order, though he turned on the tap just to be sure (and he mentally cheered when he discovered that he was right).

The immortal promptly decided to claim this bedroom as his own, even if it needed some cleaning and an appointment with a fresh coat of paint.

He firmly told himself that he was _not_ stalling, even as he spent the next several days getting the bedroom just how he liked it.

Three days later, and Cameron had run out of excuses to avoid coming into contact with any of the Lords or their allies, even though he'd practically been living in their backyard. His bedroom was spotless, he'd cleared out all the dust, cobwebs, changed the bed sheets and rearranged the furniture, and removed the random pieces of debris, then he'd slapped on a fresh coat of paint on the walls just for good measure.

The keeper of Obsession took a deep breath and then exited his room, making his way to the entertainment room (he was impressed that the Lords had managed to get a satellite signal, considering where they were). Experience told him that that would be the most likely place to find some of the other immortal warriors, and he steeled himself to keep from chickening out.

He reached the T.V. room and faintly heard the sound of some sort of comedy show coming from the widescreen television, and his senses told him that there were three beings in the room. Whether they were Lords or not, he couldn't tell without getting closer, but he figured that he had to start somewhere.

A tentative step into the room, and Cameron had the feeling that he had just made a mistake.

The women sitting on the couch, one who looked like she'd been dipped in honey and one who he recognized as the woman in some of the paintings, looked away from the T.V. at his appearance and blinked at him. The woman who was apparently in a decorating war with Viola was sucking on a lollipop, which made him do his utmost best not to notice. The third person he'd sensed was another woman, though this one had black hair and bright red lips. The third woman was also demon-possessed, as Obsession helpfully informed him.

As far as he could tell, the women were - respectively - mortal, minor goddess, and demon-possessed.

Just as he was about to say 'screw it' and flash back to his room, the honey-colored woman smiled and said, "You must be Cameron, the keeper of Obsession, right? Torin said that he saw you walking around on the security cameras, but half of the Lords thought he was making it up." She clapped her hands and chirped, "Introductions then! I'm Ashlyn Lord, this is Anya, the goddess of Anarchy, and that's Scarlet, the keeper of Nightmares." She pointed to each woman as she introduced them, which was rather helpful.

Anya waved at him and motioned for him to have a seat as she said between sucks on her lollipop, "Just so you know, Lucien's my man, so if you swing that way, look but don't touch, got it?"

The keeper of Obsession grimaced, already knowing that he wouldn't get along with the minor goddess, but he sat down in one of the recliners anyway, chancing a quick look at the television (just a quick peek so as not to tempt his demon) before looking back at the women and feeling distinctly out of place, especially when Scarlet threw in her two cents, "By the way, Ashlyn belongs to Maddox, the keeper of Violence, so be sure to keep on her good side. And me? I don't have a good side, but as long as you don't mess with my man, we'll get along fine." Ashlyn blushed and squeaked out a denial, but was summarily ignored.

As far as first meetings went, the immortal host to one of the most pain-in-the-ass demons _ever_ figured things could have gone a lot worse.

**Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed my first foray into writing Cameron! It was kind of hard to get into his character, but I think it worked out pretty well, and that seemed like a good place to end things. Please R&R and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Okay, this is kind of a new thing for me, but the idea for this one-shot just wouldn't leave me alone, so I'm going to take a crack at it. Also, this pretty much ignores all of the books. Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Darkest Musings<strong>

_04_

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><p>What many did not know, and even more had forgotten, was that the High Lords that had been caged in Pandora's Box had once been angels. Some of the most powerful angels ever to be created, as a matter of fact, but again, many forgot that fact.<p>

The High Lords had been corrupted, their hearts blackened because they turned their backs on the angels' Deity, and they had been banished into Hell where they would serve Lucifer the Prince of Darkness. And for thousands of years they had, until many of them had decided to try and escape to earth…and they succeeded, thanks in large part to the death of the goddess of Oppression, the one who had been in charge of keeping the wall of Hell strong and impenetrable.

However, upon their escape to earth, the realm of mortals, the High Lords triumph had been cut short by their imprisonment into that accursed Pandora's Box. As it was made from the _bones _of the dead goddess of Oppression, it was able to contain all of the raging demons.

The inside of the box had been a hell all its' own, cold and dark, with no light or sound to lessen the torment. For thousands of years they had languished in the terrible darkness, their cries echoing through the confines of the cursed box, unheard by the outside world.

That is, until the box was opened by a group of immortal warriors, formerly Zeus's personal guard against enemies and family alike, who had been angry that they had been passed over as guards of the treasure in favor of Pandora, who had been the mightiest female warrior of the time. When the box was opened, all of the demons that had been contained within it were released, and the High Lords eagerly seized the chance to escape.

And among that number was Wrath, the demon who had been paired with the immortal warrior Aeron, one of the warriors who had opened Pandora's Box.

In the back of Aeron's mind, while his host lay sleeping, curled protectively around their angel Olivia, Wrath reflected.

The High Lord distantly remembered his life in the heavens among the other angels, things that confirmed what Olivia had told Aeron when she had spoken of her own life there. He remembered the ranking system that was used, what those ranks' specialties were (he now found himself partial to the joy-bringers), and he even distantly remembered another angel that was possibly Lysander...

What Wrath did not tell Aeron was that he had once gone by another name, a name that better reflected his angelic duties, and a name he preferred to forget that he'd ever once used.

No, the demon was content in his new life - well, old life really, but he and Aeron were getting along a lot better since Heaven arrived and Hell had learned to accept that she was there to stay.

Ah, his Hell, known as Legion to Aeron and the others who lived in the fortress, a demon minion, one of the lowest ranked beings of hell, aside from the human souls that were tortured there. One of his own rank would normally never associate with a minion save to order them around, bed them, or kill them, but he had taken a liking to Legion, ever since she had asked his host to play game while he'd been chained near the actual Hell.

To Wrath, she represented his second home, though he'd never thought of Hell that way until after he'd been sealed inside the accursed Pandora's Box, and so he was fond of having her around. Like Aeron, he thought of Legion like a daughter, though he rather thought that he wouldn't have indulged her quite so much…(really, bright pink nail polish?)

The High Lord began purring as his mind drifted to Heaven, their angel Olivia, their angel who had once fallen in order to be with them.

If that didn't scream devotion, Wrath didn't know what did.

He knew what it meant to fall from grace, though he doubted that his experience had been Olivia's. He remembered the sudden, searing heat, the act of tearing off his wings so that new ones could grow in their place, his teeth grinding against each other as they sharpened into fangs. His entire body had mutated into his true form, and the pain had been intense, but he had welcomed the change as he cast off his heavenly trappings.

Heaven had not welcomed anything in hell, Wrath knew. Demons had hurt her, had touched her in ways that they never should have touched her, in ways that only he and Aeron were meant to.

Wrath had punished them, oh yes he had punished them…His purring grew louder at the memories that that thought evoked.

His Heaven was not to be harmed, in _any way_. Those who did so would be punished severely, as he had already proved. Heaven was his first home, a home that Olivia practically personified, as she radiated peace, love, and contentment, all things he had once felt in the actual Heaven.

Now, he felt them anew through his host, and those feelings were directed towards Olivia.

The High Lord loved her, the same as Aeron did, and he was quite willing to sit back and let the immortal warrior run the show, as long as it led to such pleasant outcomes as the last time. The demon actually heated as he remembered what had happened when Heaven had said "Hey Aeron, I want to try something…" oh yes, and they had both loved every. Damn. Minute!

Experiments, Wrath decided, were to be thought of as Very Good until proven otherwise.

Though his purring grew even louder, and in his corner of Aeron's mind he rolled over in bliss, he couldn't help thinking of something else that had changed since he and Aeron had been partnered together (aside from actually talking to each other).

He had actually wanted to reward his Heaven and Hell when they did something that pleased him. Like when Heaven had stolen the Cloak of Invisibility for them, he had wanted to reward her then. And then there was that time when Hell had ripped the throat out of a Hunter, they had rewarded the minion by buying her three new tiaras. Of course, then there was the time when Heaven had mentioned that she wanted to try something in bed involving ice cubes…

Wrath's wings twitched in remembrance. Yes, they had rewarded Heaven _very_ well for that idea.

He actually thought that he'd known about the concept of rewards before he'd turned his back on heaven, but there had been no need for that concept in the fiery pits of Hell.

His thoughts were cut short when Aeron began to stir, sleepily pulling Heaven closer to his body and gently kissing her behind her ear. Heaven began stirring in response, and Wrath purred his loudest yet, knowing what was almost sure to follow such an awakening.

He could barely wait!

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><p>Olivia blinked sleepily, twisting slightly to look over at Aeron, feeling the evidence of his excitement against her buttocks, and she smiled as she murmured, "And what's got you so worked up?"<p>

Aeron gave a slow, seductive grin in response as he dipped his head to press his lips against Olivia's, muttering in response, "Wrath's got his purr on, for some reason. I say we give him something to purr about…"

Olivia quickly agreed.

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><p><em>Author's Note: So, I hope you all enjoyed this brief foray into the mind of Wrath. Hopefully I didn't make him <em>_**too **__out of character…Please read and review! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: Because I am evil and wish to torment you all, here's a peek at a story I may or may not write. ;-) With some elements of another story thrown in for good measure! Enjoy!_

**Warning: Gratuitous use of cursing in this chapter, because the almost-end of the world warrants cursing.**

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><p><strong>Darkest Trouble<strong>

_05_

For once in a very, very long time, the Keepers of the demons from Pandora's Box were all gathered in one place, but it wasn't to have cake and catch up on old times. Oh no, the event that gathered all of these immortals together was the fact that the world had almost ended, and none of them were happy about that.

A cacophony of loud, enraged voices echoed within the large hall that served as the entrance to the Lords' castle, located in scenic Land of Blood and Death, and Niko, Keeper of Strife since '05, could only stand near the wall and glare venomously at the man next to him, the one who had started the entire catastrophe. And for once the entire thing could be laid at the feet of someone other than Kane, the Keeper of Disaster.

He kept quiet, because there wasn't anything he could say that the others weren't saying a hundred times over, but if the bastard next to him didn't stop smirking he was going to punch him in the _fucking face_.

The earth had pretty much gone completely pear-shaped in under thirty hours. There had been riots, protests, wide-spread looting, and at least three countries were on the verge of declaring war on each other. Not to mention the tropical storms, the earthquakes, and the occasional presidential assassination attempt, and that was pretty much only the warm-up to the beginning of the end, to be poetic about it.

And the worst part? The bastard responsible wasn't even one of the Lords and thus didn't have a demon to blame his actions on, he was just an immortal with a streak vicious enough to try and destroy the world because he felt like it. The dick.

Fortunately the Lords of the Underworld had managed to head off the destruction at the pass and mitigate at least some of the chaos, thanks in great part to their resident demons, and prevent the actual destruction of the world.

It was pretty surprising, how their demons, which represented the worst evils of the world, had actually helped to save it.

_Un_fortunately, Lucien the Keeper of Death had been very, very busy before they had calmed things down, and that meant that Anya, (minor) Goddess of Anarchy, was pissed because her husband had had to keep teleporting all over the world to round up dead souls. And he was still busy, but he had managed to break away from his duties long enough to attend the emergency meeting.

The meeting, such as it was, was basically to decide what to do with the bastard who had started all the chaos and how they could all help get the earth back in balance again. Even Lysander and Zacharel were there, along with their wives, to do what they could to help.

"I say we string the bastard up by his tendons and let the vultures have at him!" Maddox, Keeper of Violence, snarled, his eyes blazing red and the face of his demon almost overshadowing his own.

"Agreed, some time getting his organs eaten again and again might teach him a lesson." Sabin, Keeper of Doubt, coolly seconded, his tone so frosty it was almost arctic.

Niko repressed a shudder, listening to the assorted immortals in the room tossing out suggestions for what to do to the guy next to him, who was still. Fucking. _Smirking_.

He didn't feel one ounce of sympathy for what was going to happen to the prick, and only hoped that it really, really hurt. After what the immortal next to him had done, he deserved every bit of what happened to him, and the Keeper of Strife doubted that anyone in the hall would say otherwise.

A loud whistle cut through the angry shouts that filled the hall, and everyone went quiet as they all looked towards where Lucien was standing, and Niko saw no less than five immortals flinch back from the cold look in Death's eyes. He didn't feel so bad about his own fear after that. Then Lucien spoke, and his attention was yanked back to the main issue that all of them had gathered to talk about, "Those are all very good suggestions, but sometimes simple is best. The punishment for the one responsible for all of the destruction and mayhem on earth is simple: death." His dual-colored eyes glowed, and he added, "William, if you wouldn't mind? I believe you are the closest."

William the Ever-Randy, as he had been dubbed by the original group of Lords, smirked, looking more bloodthirsty than Niko could ever remember seeing him, and in a split second a sword manifested in his hand. Another second, and the immortal beside Niko realized that he was actually going to be executed, and he wasn't smirking when the sword separated his head from his body.

Everyone in the hall felt the slight flicker as the bastard's powers dissipated into the cosmos.

Lucien cleared his throat, bringing the various Lords' and immortals' attention back to him, and Niko felt a fissure of uneasiness curl in his gut as he realized that the Keeper of Death was looking at him. His uneasiness was justified when the leader of the Lords spoke, "Niko, Keeper of Strife, the world is very unstable right now, and its' ability to handle any more strife and chaos is doubtful…in order to prevent the earth from tearing itself apart any further, I'm afraid that you will have to leave in order to give it time to heal."

"But-!" Niko started to protest, only to be interrupted.

"Face it, kid. Even if you stuck to just causing trouble between couples and the occasional business partners, that still might be more demonic energy than the world can take." Sabin spoke up, and if Niko wasn't mistaken the Keeper of Doubt actually looked _sympathetic_, and that was when Niko knew he was in trouble.

Lucien took over the explanation, unknowing of the sinking feelings his words were causing in Niko's gut, "I'm afraid that even if you stayed in Heaven or one of the other-side dimensions, you might still be too close to earth…So you will have to go further away." Seeing the faintly sick expression on the younger immortal face, Lucien's tone softened the tiniest bit as he finished, "Don't worry, you have a few days to prepare to leave, and you will have all of your powers. Just try and lay low while you are there, okay?"

Niko blinked, and he blurted out quickly before he could be interrupted, "Wait, where am I going? If I can't stay with one of the angels in Heaven or one of the outlying dimensions without potentially finishing what _he_," His tone was faintly disgusted when he indirectly referred to the newly dead immortal, "Started, then where am I supposed to go?"

"A dimension with a much higher threshold for chaos."

The Keeper of Strife wondered distantly if Valence would be up for a cross-dimensional vacation as he wordlessly flashed back to his suite, sensing that the meeting was over, at least as far as he was concerned.

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><p>Niko blinked as the spots faded from his vision, and he felt a small measure of sympathy as he heard Valence throwing up a few feet away. He hoped that the kid didn't get any puke on the suitcases, because that stuff was murder to get out of leather, and it was even tougher to get rid of the <em>smell<em>.

While he waited for the kid to finish tossing his lunch, he looked around to try and figure out where he was, and he was mildly disconcerted to see that they were standing on the side of a road that would have looked right at home on their own world. He then caught sight of a large road-sign behind him, and he silently read:

_Welcome to Galveston!_

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding me!"

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><p><em>Author's Note: A virtual cookie to whoever can guess which book series that I was planning to cross LotU with! And now I'm off to work on the project I should have been working on. *Wanders off* Please read and review! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!<em>


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: After battling it out with several plot bunnies who would not tell me how to write them, I decided I was in the mood for some fluff, and thus this drabble was spawned. Based on Torin's interview in 'Into the Dark'._

**Darkest Surprise**

_06_

Ashlyn Lord bent over to look through the clear oven door, frowning pensively as she again checked the watch on her wrist, unsure over whether or not the project she was working on was actually done or not…Her watch said it had been 45 minutes, but her glance into the oven had revealed that her current project didn't look like her others had when they had been done. Hence her mental debate on whether to turn off the oven or not, but in the end she decided to trust her watch on the time the project had been in the oven and wait another two minutes just to be on the safe side.

Five minutes later, the honey-haired woman was about ready to imitate her husband and start destroying something as she groaned in frustration and stared down at the blackened remains of what had previously been a normal cake. She was _sure _that she hadn't made a mistake on the time or accidentally pressed 'broil' instead of 'bake', so she just couldn't figure out why she couldn't make this one particular recipe work. All her other recipes had worked fine, and as far as she knew there was nothing wrong with the oven. For goodness' sake, she had even managed to make a Red Hots cake for Strider that morning!

(The blond Lord had almost gotten beaten to a pulp by Maddox when he had gotten down on one knee and proposed to her after she had presented the small, one-person cake to him.)

Still, she was not going to let one – more like seven – little setback deter her, and with a sigh she disposed of the remains of the cake, sticking the cake-pan into the dishwasher and pulling out one of the spares she always kept on hand while the machine went to work on cleaning up the evidence of her failure. Before she started work again, though, she paused and looked around her work area semi-helplessly: the kitchen was a wreck, to put it bluntly. There was flour over almost half the counter and broken eggshells over the other half, with used spoons and whisks scattered randomly about the rest of the kitchen. Salt, sugar, and flour sacks were left partially opened, the milk was sitting amidst the flour-covered side of the counter, and various other cake ingredients were in an even worse state.

Ashlyn herself was in worse shape than the counter however, if that was at all possible, with flour covering her hands and smudged on her face, not to mention the egg yolk in her tied-back hair. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt (with the sleeves pushed up passed her forearms) and form-fitting jeans underneath a 'Kiss the Cook' apron that she wore simply because her sweetheart could be so literal sometimes. Of course, her apron hadn't done much to save the rest of her clothes from the ravages of various failed cake-making attempts, and she had the sinking suspicion that it would take more than one wash cycle to get the lot of it clean.

The honey-haired woman barely resisted the urge to whimper at the seemingly impossible task before her and straightened her back, gathering her wits about her and going back over to the recipe, which was sitting on one of the only clean areas in the kitchen. The recipe was handwritten on a plain piece of paper, so there was always the chance that she had written it down improperly and that was what was messing up her attempts instead of the appliances or something she did directly. She carefully looked over all the instructions she had written down, wondering if maybe she had missed a step or something like that, but no, it looked as though she had gotten everything and it looked like a regular cake recipe…only with a few more ingredients than she was used to.

She shot a look over at said extra ingredients, relieved that she had thought to buy extra in case her first attempts hadn't worked out, and sighed as she read over the recipe once again in preparation for another attempt. Reaching for a large mixing bowl and the flour, she jumped and had to juggle both items to avoid dropping them when a male voice spoke up from the doorway, "Whoa, what _didn't_ happened here? It _doesn't _look like a bakery exploded!"

Gideon stepped into the demolished kitchen, electric-blue eyes scanning the various ingredient-covered surfaces, and he pushed a strand of metallic blue hair out of his eyes as his gaze landed on the food-covered Ashlyn, a grin slowly forming on his lips as he watched the woman try not to drop the large bowl she was holding along with the jumbo sack of flour (which, he noted in amusement, was half-empty). She managed to juggle both items long enough to set the bowl down in an empty spot on the counter, shortly followed by the flour sack, breathing a sigh of relief as she did so.

Ashlyn smiled over at the Keeper of Lies, wiping a drop of sweat off her forehead and no doubt smearing some unknown cake ingredient over even more of her skin. She looked at the mess around her ruefully, saying as she did so, "Yeah, that's pretty much what happened, though I can honestly say it wasn't on purpose!" She giggled helplessly as Gideon stepped further into the kitchen, stumbling when he almost tripped over some spilled flour.

Raising one pale eyebrow in question, the Lord looked around more closely and asked, "So, what _weren't_ you trying to do, and why _aren't_ there piles of flour and other stuff scattered around?"

The honey-colored woman bit her lip uncertainly, looking down at the recipe beside her, and then glancing back at Gideon as she replied, "Well, I _was _planning on making a cake for someone as a little thank-you present, but as you can see, it hasn't exactly worked out…" She sighed, a wealth of frustration in that single breath, but then she perked up as she looked at Gideon and asked him hopefully, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to lend me a hand, would you?"

Blinking in surprise, Gideon actually looked gob-smacked for a minute before a slightly unsure smile quirked his lips up at the corners, tentatively answering, "Uh…I'd _hate_ to?" Possessed as he was by the keeper of Lies, Gideon couldn't speak a word of the truth without experiencing severe pain, so Ashlyn knew to believe the opposite of what he said – although she hadn't known Gideon long and wasn't as fluent in Gideon-Speak as the others were.

Mentally translating his reply, Ashlyn beamed as she clapped her flour-covered hands and said, "Fantastic! Maybe you can help me figure out what I've been doing wrong…" she muttered under her breath as she handed the piece of paper containing the recipe for the blueberry cake to Gideon. She had read it so often she practically had the thing memorized anyway. Now with someone to help, it didn't take the two of them long before they had the batter for another cake ready, though it took longer than it usually would have with two people mixing everything because they kept stopping to laugh at how their conversation sounded ("Two _spoons _of sugar?" "Yeah, be sure to mix the dry ingredients well!" "_Not _okay, how long do I _toss_ the _smoothie_?" "Oh, four or five minutes ought to do it…" and it went on and on).

The moment of truth came and Ashlyn added in the blueberries, worrying her lip as she crossed her fingers while Gideon slid the cake pan into the pre-heated oven. The appliance sure was getting a work-out, the woman thought, choking back her laugh at the thought as they both checked their watches, making note of the time as Gideon set his cooking mitts on the counter next to him. They spent the next 45 minutes laughing as they attempted a conversation and wound up just sounding ridiculous, but the time practically flew by until Gideon glanced at his watch and slid his cooking mitts on.

"What are you doing? It's hasn't been 45 minutes yet!" Ashlyn said in surprise, causing Gideon to glance at her as he silently held out his arm to show Ashlyn his watch. The woman blinked, reading the time clear as day on the digital watch, and then looked down at her own older timepiece while Gideon removed the cake – which, she noted, was not in the least bit burnt – and it hit her exactly what had sabotaged her other cake-making attempts. A moment went by, and Ashlyn burst out laughing while Gideon turned off the oven and removed his cooking mitts again, twisting to look at her curiously while she bent double at the waist and tried to get her laughter under control.

"T-that's what happened...-gasp-…I read my w-watch wrong!" She choked back another burst of laughter, restraining herself to just giggling helplessly while she watched a slow grin spread across the Keeper of Lies' face, and he chuckled along with her while they waited for the cake to cool. Well, Ashlyn thought as she leaned back against the marble counter, at least now she knew why the other cakes had been burnt: she had read her watch wrong.

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><p>Torin, Keeper of Disease, looked up from one of his computer monitors when he heard a knock on his bedroom door, and a few taps of the keyboard switched the view on his leftmost monitor to show the hallway outside of his door. There was no one there, but he definitely saw something on the ground right outside the door, indistinct due to the thing's position in relation to the camera he had installed.<p>

Curious in spite of himself, he double-checked to make sure that there was no one around her room before he stood and walked over to his door, opening it slowly and peering down at the floor. He blinked in surprise when he saw the cake sitting there innocently, complete with a cheery-looking card propped up in front of it. The cake was one of those rectangle-shaped birthday cakes; the icing was plain white with bright purple trim and flowers at the corners. Scrawled across the middle of the cake was 'Thank You!' in darker purple icing.

Glancing around in case one of the other Lords had decided to play a prank on him, Torin opened his door all the way and picked up the cake, which had been considerately place on a portable tray. Moving the cake, the card, and the paper plate and plastic fork that had been provided for him into his room, he kicked the door to his room closed and went back over to his bed, which was where he had set the cake down. Picking up the card, he flipped it open and read the message written inside:

"_Torin,_

_I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me and Maddox, along with everything you do to protect the others, so I decided to surprise you with this! I hope you like it!_

_Signed, Ashlyn (P.S. Gideon helped with this!)"_

Both his dark eyebrows shot up as he looked from the card to the cake and back again, before a light-bulb went off in his head and he ran to find a knife to cut the cake with. Finding one quickly, he cut a large corner piece and transferred it to the paper plate and then picked up the fork to dig in.

It only took one bite for him to realize exactly what kind of cake Ashlyn had made him: a blueberry cake with _actual_ blueberries! He moaned when the flavor exploded across his tongue, the berries melting across his tongue, and he almost had a religious experience right then and there. Without further ado, Torin dug in, savoring each bite while making a note to thank the woman profusely the next chance he got – well, her and Gideon, but he could thank the Keeper of Lies just as easily by sending the man a new dagger or customized gun.

Settling back on his chair with the plate of cake, he smiled as he continued eating, wondering if there was a way to convince Ashlyn to try a few other recipes while she was in a baking mood…

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><p><em>Author's Note: Well, I don't think that was my best work, but it was certainly fluffy enough for me! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so please review and tell me what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!<em>


	7. Chapter 7

_This is dedicated to LittleBounce, a fantastic author and excellent sounding board. ;)_

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><p><strong>Darkest Affection<strong>

_07_

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><p>Viola, goddess of the Afterlife and Keeper of Narcissism, felt rather like an ultra-sexy spy as she peered cautiously around the corner, checking to make sure that there was no one around before slipping down the hallway.<p>

Practically everyone in the fortress, from William the Ever-Randy (she liked the Lords' title for him) to Lucien the Keeper of Death was going ga-ga over Ever and Urban, Ashlyn's and the Keeper of Violence's twin children. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about, since she didn't understand why everyone was fawning over some babies when they could fawn over _her_. Sure she'd been then while the twins were being delivered, but she'd been busy Screeching – the immortal version of Tweeting – and hadn't realized that all the excitement was over until a few hours after the fact.

Since she hadn't bothered to speak up, she hadn't gotten her turn to see the twins, though she wasn't as upset about missing her turn as Cameo was about getting skipped over. With everything that had happened in the heavens and with the ghost chick she'd bargained with becoming the new Queen of the Gods, it had taken her awhile to slip away from the rest of the demon keepers.

_But_ now that all the others in the fortress were relaxing and/or having sexy-fun-times in their rooms, she was free to wander around as she saw fit, and so she'd seized the opportunity. Taking a break from telling Legion, the traumatized demon minion in a porn-star body, all about her awesome self, she'd slipped off to where the nursery had been set up for the babies. The room was right next to Ashlyn's and Maddox's room, inconveniently for her, so she was going to have to be quiet unless she wanted everyone to ask why she was sneaking into the nursery to get a look at the twins. She didn't see what was so great about two baby part-demons, but maybe seeing them would clear up the confusion? It was worth a shot anyway.

In the back of her mind, Narci was grumbling, bristling inside her skull about sneaking into a nursery to look at _babies _of all things. The demon didn't understand what was so great about them anymore than she did, or that the reason she was going to the nursery was so she could find out what all the hubbub was about. The demon whined; wanting her to look in a mirror so she could see how pretty she was, and Viola winced as she thought back:

_Soon, I just want to see what's up with the newest additions to the fortress._

Narci still grumbled but at least she settled down, no longer scraping her horns against Viola's mind.

The goddess of the afterlife arrived at the door to the nursery and took a moment to listen; not wanting to walk in on one of the other demon-keepers fawning over the babies, but the room was thankfully silent.

Painted a soft cream color, the nursery was illuminated only by the red glow of the sky outside the fortress, which clearly outlined the few stuffed animals and building blocks that were still scattered around the plush-carpeted floor from the playtime that day. Stepping neatly over the toy mine-field, Viola strolled (sexily of course, though the effort was wasted with no one around to appreciate her) over to the two cribs that had been set up near the right side of the room within several feet of each other. She was fully prepared to just take a quick peek at the sleeping babies and have her curiosity satisfied, but that plan went flying straight out the window when she peered into the light blue crib belonging to the male twin, Urban…

A pair of diamond-hard violet eyes stared up at her without blinking, the baby they belonged to wide-awake and strangely quiet. The child was laying on his back, legs stretched out and his hands curled into fists near his face, like he was preparing to punch someone if they looked at him funny. It was, dare Viola think it, _adorable_. Those violet eyes, the exact same color as his father's, narrowed like he had heard the goddess's thought and certainly Did Not Approve. Viola smirked almost challengingly at Urban, like she was saying '_what are you gonna do about it?_', and she pointedly ignored the fact that she was in a staring contest with a baby not even a month old yet.

Urban actually _growled_ at her, very cutely mind you, but it was still a growl!

Viola was delighted, her smirk widening into an actual smile, so consumed with the little staring contest with the baby that it took her almost fifteen minutes – just after the end of the contest (she won, of course, and Urban's little mouth turned down in an unmistakable pout) – to realize that Narci hadn't said a word since she had first seen the baby staring up at her. A quick check in the back of her mind, and she was surprised to find that her demon was just as enthralled by little Urban as she was. This was evidenced by the fact that Narci wasn't even complaining about how Viola was paying more attention to the baby than she was to herself.

The blonde goddess's expression softened, and she almost unconsciously reached into the crib to lightly tickle the baby's side with one finger. She giggled quietly when Urban's expression shifted into a long-suffering one that said he was merely humoring the weird lady standing over him, and he attempted to wriggle away from the offending digit tickling his belly.

Seriously, this baby was just too adorable!

Despite the fact that Urban was glaring daggers at her, she couldn't have been more delighted if she had tried. She made an effort to stifle her giggles, not wanting anyone walking down the hallway outside to hear and then find her when they looked inside the nursery. She grinned down at the glowering, annoyed-looking Urban and gave him a little finger-wave before straightening up to turn and look in on Ever, the female twin.

Peering into the other crib, she saw a pair of fiery orange eyes staring up at her; evidently the baby girl had been awakened by the goddess's giggling over her twin brother. The look on Ever's face clearly said, '_Try to tickle me like you did him and lose a finger,_' and she showed her miniature fangs and growled (it was more like a purr, really) in what she probably thought was a threatening expression.

Inside Viola's mind, even Narci was cooing over how cute the baby was, and the demon usually only got like that when she looked in a mirror.

Shoulders shaking slightly as she tried to restrain the giggles that threatened to escape, pink lips pressed together in a straight (and sexy!) line as she reached into the crib and wriggled her finger against Ever's side despite the baby's warning. The honey-haired baby let out an affronted squeak at the action, promptly squirming around to try and bite at the offensive digit. The blonde goddess moved her hand with the baby's wriggling, keeping her finger just out of reach of the infant's teeth as the effort to restrain her giggles almost became too much.

Her shoulders were trembling so violently that she eventually admitted defeat and let the giggles out, withdrawing her tickling finger when Ever came dangerously close to actually biting it. Resting both hands on the side of the crib, she looked at the baby girl and smiled, taking in the honey-colored curls, the bright orange eyes, and the tiny claws that graced the tips of her small fingers. She could already tell that when Ever grew up her father and brother were going to have to beat boys off her with swords – or their fists, whichever came first.

Why, Viola would even go so far as to say that when the girl got older she would almost be as attractive as her!

That was the highest compliment possible as far as she and Narci were concerned, the demon cooing in her mind over how precious the twins were. Considering Narcissism hardly paid attention to anyone but herself, and even then it was just to make sure that those around were paying attention to her, it was obvious why all the other beings residing in the fortress were making such a fuss over the babies. If even _she_ thought they were adorable, then they must be, Viola thought, and that was really all there was to it.

Before she could change her mind, she reached into the crib and gently picked Ever up, holding the infant awkwardly before she managed to dredge up some blurry memories of having seen someone holding a baby before. Since Narci tended to hide most of her memories involving anything other than what was directly related to her or any memories she had of feeling guilty or something other than amazing, that was a bigger accomplishment than most people would think.

Ever, the little cutey, made a displeased noise at her position before Viola remembered how to hold a baby properly, and ensured that the goddess holding her knew how angry she was by sending a babyish scowl at her. It was all she could do not to just go 'awwww' and cuddle the baby girl like crazy. The blonde goddess slowly began walking around the nursery, rocking the infant in her arms slowly as she hummed a nameless melody that she vaguely recalled hearing someone else humming.

Gradually, Ever quieted down and decided to just humor the weird lady holding her by enjoying the ride. It would probably be over soon and she would get put back in her nice, comfortable crib so she could go back to sleep. Viola giggled at the put-upon look on the little girl's face, doing several laps around the room before, to Narci's displeasure, she returned to girl twin to her crib. To placate her demon, Viola glanced into Urban's crib, smiling when she saw that the baby boy had fallen asleep at some point, and she covered her mouth with one perfectly manicured hand to stifle her giggle at the sight.

Feeling more peaceful than she had in years, the amazing goddess of the afterlife quietly slipped out of the nursery, gently closing the door behind her before heading back to her own awesome room. Well, she thought smiling, she _definitely_ knew why everyone in the fortress was making such a big deal about Violence' and Ashlyn's twins…

**Author's Note: Sorry it's taking so long for me to update my other stories, guys, but lately I've been getting distracted by an amazing role-playing site called Arach Eyrie, so just type that into Google to find it – I think. This is my first attempt at writing Viola, not really sure how well it turned out…Please review and tell me what you guys think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!**


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